


Serva Me

by shark_meat



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Cute Kids, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, Other, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Prequel, Xander cries, big brother mode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6354055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shark_meat/pseuds/shark_meat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>King Garon has something to show the crown prince. A new gem of Nohr that will change everything, but the young Xander especially. Set before the events of the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serva Me

_Serva me, et servabo te._

* * *

 

She’d been so small when she came. Small and pale—like the white radishes he would whine about at dinner. She was completely white, from her toes to her hair. Save for her eyes and the droplets of blood on her cheeks, the blood of her father the former king of Hoshido. Xander’s father chucked staring at the child with a greedy grin, holding her as if she were made of gold. There was no love in his eyes, just the greed. His eyes shined as if he’d found his weight in gold.

The girl’s eyes were big like his fathers—shined bright even in the dark. But the shimmer was a reflection of her tears. She squirmed, his father holding her wrist the same way a child holds a doll. Yet she didn’t make a sound. Her family was miles away, what good would screaming do her now? The king of Nohr just continued to laugh-- caught up in his thoughts of grandeur.

Tentatively, Xander reached his hand forward. Camillia wasn’t much older than the pale child but she was taken care of wet nurses who would sweep her away if Xander got too close. He started to fear that he would break his sister—in fact he feared the same with the screaming child in front of him. Yet curiosity got the better of him. The two looked at each other in silence. He could see himself in her big eyes. But the picture was tinted red, as if he’d just escaped a bloodbath. Xander felt his spine shiver.

Closer to her now he saw how sickly she looked. Pale, eyes sunken in, hair tangled and lips chapped. Xander wanted to look at his father and shout “What did you do to her?” But every time he looked into his father’s eyes he felt himself grow small. Xander did not like to talk. Every time he did a thousand eyes followed him, like a single mouse in a forest filled with owls. _The crown prince is speaking…_ is what they thought. _Our future king… he sounds so weak—like that girl_. Camilla wasn’t weak. So small but so bold, unafraid of anything as she ran through the palace. How Xander wished he could be like that.

He knew of another girl in the castle—a ghost girl who flitted about the halls with long hair trailing behind her like the veil her mother wore the day his father married. She wasn’t just frail. She was a usurper—or so the court whispered. Something about Xander dying and how she would be crowned. He didn’t like hearing about his death…

Xander’s fingers, still thick as child’s hands, wiped away the blood the stained the girl’s cheek. He wiped the blood on his tunic, eyes never leaving the girl’s face. He reached out to touch her again but his father stopped him.

The hand of the king engulfed Xander’s forearm—and he growled at his son like the fabled wolfskins in the hills. “That blood you touched—!” Xander struggled to pull away. “That crimson in the blood of the enemy. And that blood—!“ The king’s hand moved from Xander’s arm to the back of his neck, pushing him towards the child. “Runs through her as well.”

Xander felt the hair on the back of his palm stand like castle guards. The child’s eyes filled with tears and Xander felt a pang in his heart. “She could kill you in your sleep, kill you and your sisters with a wave of her hand!”

Azura and Camilla were so small. Like the girl in front of him with tears starting to wield up and fall down her cheeks. Even if Azura was a ghost to him, a threat to him, she was still his sister. Still the daughter of Nohr’s queen… and like a proper ghost the thin girl haunted him. At night he would dream of hair like water and a voice of a bell, yet that was all Xander knew and the face and shape of his unknown sister would change each night. When the sun rose he awoke confused the dream already fading from memory.

“You must control her, Xander.” The blond boy turned his head to look at his father. The girl’s tears turned into loud sobs. “Control her. Or you shall lose everything.”

The girl was hidden away in the Northern Forrest, yet Xander insisted on visiting her almost everyday. The ride was long and ran through deep brush with odd sounds and sights. Yet his father’s words echoed in his mind, pushing him forward. Together the two were heavily watched. Mostly by maids but a few guards as well. It was hard to think such a small girl could possibly kill anyone, yet his caretakers seemed to take caution around her. Xander refused to treat her any different. He would not let the girl become like Azura.

Yet he was only a boy, and when his caretakers deemed it was time to go no amount of royal blood could say otherwise. Xander always followed orders, yet with his back turned to Corrin he would start to cry. On one such occasion, as the maids pulled him away Corrin ran up and pulled at his sleeve. He had no choice but to turn around, exposing his red eyes and wet cheeks. Corrin touched Xander’s tears. Through his muddled vision he saw the bright look of the child. The same one from her first night in Nohr, the blood of her father still on her cheeks. The nurses tugged Xander away and Corrin began to cry as well. Xander was dragged away, tears staining his cheeks as he sat in a silent awe.

Eventually Camilla joined Xander on his visits. Then Leo, then Elise. Azura never came… his nursemaids tried to hide it but Xander knew his sister was gone. Where to and why he didn’t dare question. Yet there was a fire in his heart that hoped the girl—his sister, was still alive.

He couldn’t control Corrin. No nursemaid can control a child; no man could hold another man’s soul. Yet he could protect her as if she were his blood and perhaps the treacherous crimson behind her eyes would stay hidden. So she became his sister, as well as Camillia’s and his other siblings’ elder. Corrin was a child of Nohr and Xander’s responsibility. Like a hunter and his dog Xander would keep Corrin sheltered and loved, hoping that one day she could protect him. They were bound not by blood but by fate. For it was not a simple string, daintily wrapped around their fingers like a ring. It was rope, bound around their necks, with an anchor between them.

* * *

 

“Big sister!” Elise cried from across the field. Xander looked quickly over his shoulder, making sure his youngest stayed out of the fray. He turned back to Corrin, her once docile eyes now sharp. He saw blood and fire in her eyes. Worst of all he saw pain. _What have they done to you?_ He thought. It was happening again.

He felt the rope tighten around his neck. “Little princess… come home.” Where was it? Where was the home he could always find in her eyes? Hidden beneath the flames and behind the daggers? He turned his gaze to the prince Ryoma, standing with his arms crossed and weapon crackling at his side. He stood firm like a stone, while Xander could feel his quiver in his hand.

Corrin lifted her chin, staring up at the man she once called brother. There he was, a painting in her eyes again. Yet it was faded, forgotten and dull. Silence despite her lips moving, silence despite the hundreds of solders at the ready.

His father was right. The scared maids and guards all right. She was a monster. Not of Nohr, but Hoshido.

“I won’t allow it!” With that Xander charged.

* * *

 

**Save me, and I will save you.**

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted to tumblr on November 15th 2015, prior to the game's US release. As such there were some continuity errors in the tumblr version. They have been edited to fit more with the game's timeline. Other edits and additions have been made as well.  
> I also don't know Latin ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> Edit 3/28: Thank you to Lia M. for help with the Latin!


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